5 Steps to Develop a New World For Yourself
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Step One: Let Your Dreams Foreshadow the Future
Dreams are the previews of your future. Studies have been conducted on how dreams are manifestations of fears or desires in your life.
“The word “dream” is commonly used to express an unattainable ideal or an intense and strong desire.”
Now, I’m speaking of dreams only, not nightmares. Nightmares are fears that interrupt your dreams; that's why you immediately wake up after a nightmare and sleep longer during a dream.
Have you ever dreamed about something, and then years later, it happened?
Write down a dream that came true in your life.
You probably thought, "Man, I dreamed about that, and it came true." For my believers, you will hopefully thank God for the dream and ask for more dreams.
A dream is the subconscious blueprint to your success. The way dreams foreshadow your future is that they preview what "could happen" in your life. Be sure to keep those blueprints once you awaken from your slumber because that can be the new idea you've been searching for that will change your life.
Write down a dream that hasn’t come true yet.
Write down a three-step blueprint for this dream to come true.
After writing this dream and blueprint down, watch it happen. Now, when you say, “Wow, I achieved my dream,” it won’t be a surprise because you just followed the subconscious blueprint given to you in your sleep.
Step Two: The Misery of the Middle Ground: Success or Death
One day, I was looking up family crests. A family Crest is your family's shield that contains its code. I have always been fascinated with movies like Gladiator and Troy, and in those days, names meant a lot, so I was curious about my last name, Payne, and what it meant.
As I researched the name, I saw the family motto: "I would rather die than be dishonored.” Upon reading this, I was immediately pumped up. This creed described my personality precisely. I consider myself a super athlete; super athletes win at all costs. My belief system was similar to that of ancient soldiers when applied to life, death before dishonor, and all the warrior stuff. After a few moments of beating on my chest, I sat back and thought about it. What does “Death before Dishonor” really mean?
I started to think about my life successes and realized that you only have two options.
Succeed or die.
What does your family name mean?
The problem with the world is the misery of the middle ground. The middle ground is the point in your life where you have not failed but aren’t at your goal yet. This period can cause contentment and can even lead to a backslide in your life. The middle ground in life is that phase you are meant to pass through to reach your goal. The problem with this phase is it can camouflage itself as a success. Examples of the middle ground can be getting a high-paying job that does not correlate with your dream. The money is good, so you abandon the dream, continue getting a good paycheck, and eventually lose sight of everything you dreamed about.
Are you In a role that pays you well but has nothing to do with your dream?
Are you happy?
Do you still dream of doing more than you are doing now?
This scenario happened to me when I became a fitness manager; I spent two years enjoying the role, the power, and the money. Taking on this new role led to my 1st book not being finished, I gained 22 lbs of fat, and my athleticism went downhill. Eventually, the attributes that led me to be a manager were fading. I wasn’t teaching as many fitness classes, so I was becoming forgotten as a group exercise instructor. The extra weight made it hard for me to give the same caliber class I was initially known for when teaching. I had let the middle ground make me comfortable, which caused me to become lazy and depressed. I lost sight of the dream of running my own fitness center. I worked under a general manager, and although I had some power, I had no input regarding the critical decisions made at the gym.
I had to break myself out of my misery, so I transferred to a smaller, lower revenue-generating club because I could re-focus on my dream of running my own fitness center. I was making less, but I had more time to write. I was able to work out more, and I could focus on my fitness education to give myself the ability to teach more.
Are you willing to sacrifice your job for your dream?
The misery of the middle ground lies in the amount of time you spend there. You must always ask yourself these three questions, regardless of your position.
Am I content with where I’m at in life?
Have I reached my ultimate goal?
Have I altered my goal to stay comfortable?
The answers to these questions are your ticket out the middle ground, and if you have to step down first, it’s ok because life has levels, and next to each level, there’s a staircase. No matter where you are in your life, you can always go back to the stairs; it is up to you whether you are going up or down.
StepThree: The Fear of Failure
The fear of failure has plagued everyone at some point in time.
You didn’t apply for the job because you thought you wouldn’t get it. You skipped a tryout because you feared you wouldn’t make the team. You didn’t call that girl back because you thought she was out of your league.
Everyone has made these types of fearful decisions. They are usually harmless, but when they become habits, they lead to a life of regret.
Write down three times you passed on something out of fear of failure.
Failure is a part of learning. As an athlete, failure is welcomed because it means the muscles have hit their limits and can grow stronger. Coming up short means you can now judge the distance to success. We would warm up in basketball by taking jump shots before the game. We would call the first five shots “throwaways” because we shot them to gauge the rim’s distance. After a few of these shots, we would eventually start making shots quickly, translating to more made shots in the game.
Failure in life has the same concept. Apply for a job underqualified; if you don’t get it, ask for feedback, then apply it to your next application. Try out for the team; if you don’t make it, ask the coach what you need to work on to make it next season.
Call that girl; if she rejects you, slash her tires.
Just joking, but if she rejects you, you now have more space in your mind to see the girl who is eyeing you. Never fear failure because failure is the precursor to learning.
What are you afraid to fail?
Step Four: Look Forward to Failure
We are conditioned to look forward to success and take pleasure in it. We are also conditioned to be ashamed of failure and find pain in it.
Name one thing you have failed at that you are ashamed of.
Failure is a part of learning; therefore, we should look forward to failure. Famous actors and athletes worldwide have used this phrase, and it motivates people who hear it, but the understanding of it seems to be lost.
Looking forward to failure means looking forward to the opportunity to grow. For example, in the gym, you lift until you can’t lift anymore. Once you fail, the muscles you are working on say, “We are done excelling now. It’s time for us to relax and grow so we can be stronger the next time”. When a muscle tears, it rebuilds stronger, hence why you get the “ripped look” when you develop a muscle.
In life, we must have this same approach to failure. We should look forward to learning what we aren’t good at so we can focus on our strengths and improve our weaknesses.
Try a new job. If you fail, it's ok; now you know that's not the job you were meant to do.
Try a new hobby; it's ok if you suck at it. At least you tried something new. Opportunities are usually revealed when someone decides to embrace the risk of failure.
Imagine these scenarios:
You are down to your last dollar. You could buy a lotto ticket, but don’t because you fear you won’t win.
You could talk to the girl you liked at the department store but didn’t because you thought she would turn you down.
You didn’t take the game-winning shot because you thought you would miss it.
These situations can easily be changed into tales of triumph, but the fear of failure must be overcome before any victory can happen. By looking forward to failure, the alternate outcome will be victory.
So, let's re-imagine those scenarios by looking forward to failure.
You were on your last dollar; you decided to play the lotto, and even though you may not win, you might as well try. The result is that you win.
You talked to the girl at the department store and asked for her number, expecting her to say no. Your confidence impressed her, and now you two are married.
You took the last shot because you had been practicing all week, and if you missed, it didn’t matter because there’s always another game. The shot goes in, and you are a hero on your team.
Look forward to failure. There are many great lessons to learn when we are not scared to take the course.
Step Five: Predicting the Path
Now, this sounds like you are predicting the future. It’s not.
You are predicting the path to your goal.
This process doesn't always mean you will pick the easiest or hardest path; you choose the path that will lead you to the goal you are trying to achieve.
For example, when I became a personal trainer, I chose to self-study for the test instead of returning to school. I then decided to study business instead of health to understand the industry better when I reached a certain level of success as a personal trainer.
I was essentially predicting that I would be on the path to becoming a successful personal trainer from a business perspective. Instead of attending school for personal training, I invested in schooling to build a skill set to enhance my future fitness career.
That's predicting a path.
An example of choosing a path is when I decided to become a personal trainer at a time when personal training was more of a hobby than an actual job. I was presented with the easy or challenging route when I chose that path. The easy road was getting a certification, working for a company, and making a paycheck. The problematic road was getting multiple certifications, running my own business, and generating income. This experience was a lot to take in because I thought I would be living my dream of playing in the NBA only two months before this decision. That dream wasn’t going to happen, and now I had to choose how to succeed in this new career.
I had to choose a path by predicting the outcome first.
How do you predict your path?
Spend time visualizing the outcomes of each path that you want to take to reach your goal and determine which will generate the most success for you. Use the charts below to choose and predict your path.
Write down your Goal.
Predict Path #1: Write three outcomes from choosing this path towards your goal.
Predict Path #2: Write three outcomes from choosing this path towards your goal.
After writing out the outcomes for both paths, take some time to meditate on them and then ask yourself this question.
Which outcome will be the best for me?
After making that decision, this is the path you should focus on to develop a new world for yourself.
I have felt the tremor of uncertainty beneath my feet and the chill of doubt whispering in my ear—but I pressed forward anyway. Why? Because crafting a brighter horizon demands two rare allies: courage and patience. Courage gets you out the door; patience keeps you on the road when the miles seem endless.
First, tune your ears to the quiet hum of your own dreams. They speak in subtle rhythms, nudging you away from the wide, flat plains of the “middle ground”—that deceptively comfortable place where nothing truly grows. The middle ground is a lullaby for potential; it sings you to sleep while possibility slips off into the night. When you hear your dreams call, answer them. They will beg you to climb higher, to leap farther, to risk the scrape of the landing. Trust me: the view from that next ledge is worth every gasp of effort.
Next, uproot the fear of failure and replant it as anticipation. I used to flinch at every misstep, convinced each slip would send me tumbling. Then I learned to treat mistakes like trail markers: every one shows me where not to step again and—more importantly—how much ground I’ve already covered. Train yourself to lean into failure the way a sprinter leans into the turn; let the momentum carry you forward. When you stumble, study the terrain, lace your shoes tighter, and sprint again.
Finally, become a cartographer of your own future. I spend evenings sketching the path ahead—identifying challenges, rehearsing responses, plotting milestones. This is not wishful daydreaming; it is strategic foresight. When you predict your route, you arrive prepared instead of surprised. The journey still holds twists, but you will greet them with the steady calm of someone who has rehearsed triumph in their mind a thousand times.
So I challenge you: gather your courage, steward your patience, listen to your dreams, welcome failure as a tutor, and chart your course with deliberate intent. It will not be easy, but when you reach the far shore of your ambition, you will look back across the water and realize the most profound transformation was never the world around you—it was the world within you.